Okay, please proceed, ma'am.
And I was tasked to be the coordinating RCO under Belmont Alliance Civic Association.
And at the meeting with Mr. Nassimson and Mr. Katz, it was unclear to us of how they were going to go with this building.
We were told that this was going to be a four unit.
Nobody had a problem with that.
Then we looked up to see two mechanical pilot houses or access pilot houses, along with the roof deck.
We were also told in this meeting that the residents would be choice voucher residents.
and I and everyone was thinking why in the world would they build a roof deck on top of a building
and wanting children to have access to this area there was no plan for ADA to put up the building
be ADA compliant because if they were going to rent out to low income they should have made a
plan for that there was no plan for trees we weren't clear about the yard space or and then
later they mr not your man not just some i'm sorry stated that it will be yard usage
i'm sorry ferguson yes i'm here please proceed yeah thank you
uh the 12 that were opposed were homeowners most of those folks that live on uh I believe
Pensco Street are renters I'm not taking that away from them I am the committee person for
this area and so I'm well aware of who lives where but I do know this they wanted Mr. Katz
to come back to them with respect of showing them the new plans, less the dramatics on the roof.
And they're owed that to hear and see the changes that were made.
And they're owed that to hear and see the changes.
I explained to the lawyer that, look, I cannot change my opinion about what the attendees said.
I only collect and summarize what is being said to me.
So with that being said, the neighbors, the homeowners said, look, we want you to come back and be a good neighbor and show us your new plans, explain to us what you're attempting to do.
put in ADA compliant ramp somewhere where if you're going to rent out to low income or have
affordable, most likely you'll get a senior in there, in that household. And there was no plan
for trees. And Mr. Chairman, this is why we actually said no. And thank you for allowing me
to speak. Oh, thank you. Thank you for your input. We appreciate it. Yeah. Is there anyone else in
the virtual audience? I see no hands, Chair. Yeah, Mr. Chair, can I just briefly respond to Ms.
Ferguson? Yeah, and we do respect, you know, the neighbors and the community as a whole,
and that's why I presented this, you know, where we did revise our plans to, you know,
only include one pilot house to get rid of that refusal, but with the understanding that the
board feels so inclined to eliminate the roof deck from the project we understand that as well
what you know a lot of you know community members don't understand is how long we have to wait
for these appeals to be heard and if we continue this matter um you know we wouldn't potentially
get a date until sometime in march my clients already you know the refusal is you know months
old already um so again what i heard from miss ferguson is that the neighborhood does it has
no objection to the four amount of units and that's and my client purchased this property
as an iron one property and it's asking only for four units which would be allowed for as
as our uh be allowed as a right if that would happen okay um planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
this property was rezoned to RSA 5 earlier this year 2023 as part of a community-led remapping
while there is not a hardship for land we understand the zoning changed recently
however we feel the proposal represents an overuse of the property accordingly the planning
commission recommends the board grant the variances with a proviso for not more than three units
so mi2023 004798 4140 pendergrove um i vote yes uh with proviso revised plan one page
stamped by zba december 20th 23 no more than three units and no rooftop decks
James Snell, my vote is yes, with provisor.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with provisor.
Thank you.
Number eight, MI 2023-005-594-702 North 18th Street.
Mr. Nockmson is the attorney.
There's a recommendation of support unanimous from United Francisville Civic Association.
The applicant also provided a petition in support signed by approximately 12 neighbors, along with 13 form letters.
Mr. Nackamson, could you identify your clients in relationship to the property?
One second.
My clients are Dwayne and Natasha Lassiter, the owners of the property.
Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions.
Counselor, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed five days in advance of this hearing
i have thank you please proceed
please share your screen oh no i'm sorry i'm just uh trying to get to the right to uh to the right
I'm here to present 702 North 18th Street.
We're proposing a single-family structure on this property.
First, I'll present the notice of refusal, then the correspondence from the...
uh i'll present the notice of refusal then the correspondence from the united francisville
civil association again unanimous support petition uh well regarded petition my clients
live behind the property on shirley street all they're trying to do is build a single family home
on 18th street and live there you know if they've outgrown their residence that they've lived at
uh you know for third you know duane's lived there for 13 years natasha's lived there for
10 years when they got married, they moved in together. Comparable variances in this sense,
like all the refusals, whether it's height or parking or occupied area, have all been dealt
with with previous projects nearby. And I think that was recognized by the community as well.
Maps of the area, photographs of the property or plans and drawings or RCO meeting notice or
application for appeal or deed to property or certificate of tax clearance. And then I would
asked that Dwayne virtually raised his hand at the conclusion of the presentation. So notice of
refusal. Again, all we're trying to do is a single family home with a front loading garage. First
refusal has to do with the front loading garage. Again, not out of character to have front loading
garages in this part of the neighborhood, as you'll see, you know, from our, you know, presentation.
There's a deck. The second refusal has to do with the deck. We have a deck coming out of the rear
on the second floor. That leads to technical refusal in terms of its encroaching in the
required rear yard. Again, the individuals who'd be most directly impacted by that deck
signed a petition in support on Shirley Street. Those are my clients' neighbors. They've lived
in this neighborhood for over, you know, cumulatively, they've lived 13 years, Dwayne
13, Natasha 10. Next refusal has to do with the height. Again, not out of character to ask for a
height variance of this sort. We're next to an apartment building that's 55 feet high. So we're
right off of Fairmont Avenue. So asking for a height variance where the height on the roof line
would be 41 feet and change is not out of character. Then the next refusal has to do with
the open area, or is it de minimis request to have open area of 22.4 rather than 25% open area.
And then the last one has to, and by the way, this is a regular shaped lot. So the open area
issue has to go with the shape of our property. And the same thing goes with the rear yard depth
where nine feet's required, where they took the short, the zoning examiner looked at the shortest
This point from the rear of the property of the building structure to our at the end of our lot line, where there's a portion of our of our lot that goes over 10 feet, which is well within the code.
But they took the shorter portion of our rear yard. So that's a technical refusal.
So we met with the United Francisville. I think that was last week. And we had the unanimous support petition.
everyone nearby supported this project.
You know, I don't live far from here either.
Like it's a family-oriented area.
You know, we want to keep people in Philadelphia.
And if it takes some variances to make that happen,
to encourage people to stay because they need more room,
that's a positive thing for this community.
And I embrace that as well as someone who lives in Fairmont myself.
And then these are some letters of support.
and then nearby comparable variances so 703 north 18th street had an issue with the rear yard area
rear yard depth and it also asked for parking sound is similar to what we're requesting which
the board granted uh for that's and that's the zoning permit for it the refusal for 1802 francis
Street, which is not far from here. Again, open area, rear yard were two of those issues.
And then 1802 Francis is also the zoning permit for it. Notice a refusal for 1801-03 Fairmont
Avenue, height, rear yard setback, parking. Same refusals that we're asking the board to allow us
to undertake with this project.
And then maps of the area.
This is, you know, a single-family area,
and we're embracing that by having a single-family house here.
And we're just right off Fairmont Avenue.
And then photographs of the property.
As you can see, this is the building structure that's 55 feet high.
And we're looking to – and my clients live literally behind right here on
Shirley Street.
So, you know, during the community meeting, Natasha stated that it was
always literally her dream to purchase this property and build one day. So when there was
a for sale sign here, you know, Dwayne and Natasha willingly and gladly, you know, purchased the
You know, Dwayne and Natasha willingly and gladly, you know, purchased the property with the hopes of putting a single family home here.
I believe they have a condo here on Shirley Street that they live in.
Proof of posting.
North 18th Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property, are plans and drawings from Harmon Deutsch.
But, you know, in terms of the curb cuts, here are all examples of curb cuts on North 18th Street.
And then, as you can see, these are just these are single family drawings.
And you can see here of how we're matching the roof line to the property to the left of us.
The other property is set back a little bit on the fifth story.
So our roof line matches the roof line of the apartment building to the left of us.
So we're not taking any light in the air away from the person to the right of us because that light in there is also being affected by this property.
And then you can see all the garages here on North 18th Street as well.
So it's not out of character to have garages here.
We met with the community on December 13th.
83 addresses were notified in the meeting, proof of mailing to those addresses, our application for appeal, and then our deed to the property showing that my clients own it.
And then our certificate of tax clearance.
Again, money is due for 2024.
With that being said, I would ask that Dwayne or Natasha virtually raise their hands.
dewayne and natasha please raise your virtual hand
there are two devices so i can select one and allow them to speak share
and one's fine okay so they're going to hang out okay
dewayne lassiter you're free to speak hi sir could you state your name and spell
please for the court stenographer please unmute
Hello?
Lasseter. Yes, fine.
Could you just state your name and spell please for the court stenographer?
Sure. Dwayne Lasseter, D-U-A-N-E-L-A.
Mr. Lasseter, are you still there?
Mr. Lasseter?
yeah spell your last name please l-a-s-s-i-c-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth mr lassiter
he's unmuted here he might be i noticed okay um so mr knockamson i know he's
trying to get in, but, you know, you're an officer
of the court. We will take your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from
the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
planning commission good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 single family residential
at this location we feel this proposal represents an overuse and feel the applicant has failed to
demonstrate a hardship accordingly the planning commission recommends the board denied variance
can i comment real yeah i mean all the variance requests that we have have been approved by the
for properties nearby including the front loading garage the occupied area we are a regular shaped
lot too so some of those refusals have to do with the fact that we're in regular shape
so for those reasons i would ask that the board grant the variance request thank you
Number 8, MI2023-005-594-702-North18th Street, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Dishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Is our alternate board member on?
Mr. Leonard Brown?
Yes, I'm here.
Yes, I'm here.
Well, Barrett, could you vote, please?
LeBaron, could you vote, please?
Absolutely.
Absolutely. LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Mr. Kelly.
Yes, Chair.
How are you holding up?
I'm fine, Chair. Thanks for asking.
Okay, so let's take a couple more then.
Number nine, MI 2023-004-633-2672 Braddock Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from East Kensington Neighbors and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Mr. Nockmson, can you identify your clients and their relationship to the property?
yeah my client is vj assets llc and then virtual audience is josh kravitz one of its members
our vice chair has just a few questions
counselor do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards aggress
i do have you emailed down on the required documents and exhibits that is needed
five days in advance of this hearing i have thank you please proceed and share your screen
All right, so I'm here to present 2672 Braddock Street.
This is in the East Kensington section of Philadelphia.
We'll first review the notice of refusal, then the correspondence from ECNA, as well